Golf club



Jul 8, 1958 EAST 2,842,369

GOLF CLUB Filed Nov. 29, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN JAMES V. 7." EA

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ATTORNEY July s, 1958 J, v, T, EAST 2,842,369

' GOLF CLUB Filed N09; 29, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. JAMES u 7'.EAST A T TORNE Y July 8, 1958 J. v. T. EAST 2,842,369

GOLF CLUB Filed Nov. 29, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. JAMES V. T.EAST @Aee A 6545:

A T TORNE Y United States Patent GOLF CLUB James V. East, Chicago, Ill.,assignor, by mesne assignments, to National'Die Casting Company,Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application November 29, 1954,Serial No. 471,579

7Claims. Cl. 273-164) This invention relates to golf clubs having visualmarkings on their heads to assist the player inproperly striking theball.

Because of the peculiarly non-symmetrical and confusing shape of theconventional heads of' clubs. of the woods type it is difficult for manyplayers to associate the club-head in proper relationship to-the ball,and some markings heretofore proposed, as will hereinafter bediscussed,have addedto the confusion insteadlof' being helpful. appearance becauseof having a face plate of a color that is in contrast to that of therest. of the club-head and is exposed on the top face as well as thestriking face of the club-head, the contrasting face plate, even thoughpositioned with its center at the proper ball-- more particularly, to dothis in the case of a club-head having a face-plate of a color that isin contrast to that of the rest of the club-head.

Of the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a club-head, from the viewpoint of theplayer as he takes his stance, illustratingtypes of'markings heretoforeused which have been confusing or misleadinginstead of helpful.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of a club-head, embodying my invention inone of its simplest preferred forms.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view, from the viewpoint of the player, of theclub-head shown in Fig.2.

Fig. 4 is a view, from directly above, of a modification, with the clubin preliminary-stance position.

Fig. 5 is a players view of the same-..

Fig. 6 is a view, from directly above, of another modification', withthe club in preliminary-stance position.

Fig. 7 is a players view of the club-head shown in Fig. 6.

In all of the views the numeral 10 will be used for a visual spotmarking the ideal point of initial contact. of the face-plate with theball, such point being, for a perfect stroke, directly ahead of theeffective center of momentum of the club-head, in the path; of thelatter.

Fig. 1 is a carefully made tracing of a photostat, taken from theplayers viewpoint, of a club-head in which. the face-plate 11 is ofuniform thickness throughout, ex tends equally from the spot 10toward'the toe and toward the-heel of the head, and has actually only 1degree of inherent hook. So far as isdiscernible from the player's viewpoint the rear top line A of the faceplate is straight, as shown by thetraced figure.

However, as is also shown by the traced figure, the

apparent degree of inherent hook, represented by the For example, in aclub that is of attractive angle between the dotted lines at and y, isvery many' times the actual inherent hook of 1 degree.

The angle of the lines x and y is highly variable according to therotative position of the club aboutthe center-line of the shaft, becauseof the off-set and oblique relationship of the head to the shaft, but inthe making of the photostats from which the respective figures of thedrawings were traced care was taken to give the club truepreliminary-stance position, with its sole face not. tilted, and withaccuracy believed to be at least equal to that of the average orbetter-than-average player.

Also in Fig. 1 the curved arrow B represents approxi: mately theapparent curvature, from the players viewpoint, of trademark letteringwhich in the actual club photostated is, as viewed from directly above,straight and also symmetrically disposed with relation to the faceplate11 and its sweet spot 10.

It is to be noted that forward extension of the curved.

arrow, in the dotted line z, leads the eye not to the spot 10, but pastit in a path definitely farther toward the toe of the club.

Both of these deceptive or confusing effects presumably are due to thenon-symmetrical, three-dimensionalcontours of the club-head, but theircauses would be difficult, even if possible, to analyze fully. My beliefis that their bad effects upon the players performance result from thefact that the player makes himself vulnerable to them by allowinghimself to be governed largely by the appearance of the upper surface orthe outline of the club-head instead of concentrating primarily upon theappearance of the striking face of the club.

In the. embodiment shown in Figs. 2 and 3 all structural features of theclub-head are the same as in Fig. 1 except that the rear top line of theface plate, the line A, is, in plan view, curved, preferably inapproximate concentricity with a permissibly imaginary horizontal lineon the striking face of the face-plate, extending, with curvature in ahorizontal plane, through the center of the spot 10.

In practice I find that such curvature of the line A lessens the clubssappearance of inherent hook, perhaps by not being instinctively comparedwith the center line of the shaft, as the straight line A of Fig. 1 is.Also the line A, being harmonious with the real or imaginary horizontal,curved line mentioned, causes the attention to center upon the strikingface of the club.

These same effects can be further contributed to by' addition of theline C, which in Fig. 3 is an elbow line, representing the intersectionwith the club surfaces of a vertical plane extending directly backwardfrom the spot 10, but with the line C preferably ending at the line A,of which it marks the middle point. It is worthy of note that in Fig. 1,not having a line such as the line C of Fig. 3, the spot 10 does notappear to be directly ahead of the middle of the line A, even with thearrow B and its extension 2 put' out of consideration.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 4 and 5 an arrow D applied to the upperface of the club-head is curved in such direction and in such degree, asviewed from directly above, as in Fig. 4,. that .it substantiallyrepresents the intersection with the heads upper face of a planedetermined by three points represented by the players eyes and a pointon the upper face of the club-head, preferably, as shown, at or near thefront line of the club-heads upper face and in a vertical planeextending directly rearward from the spot 10. In that case, the point ofthe arrow preferably is connected to the spot 10 by a line E. Theplayers view of the markings then is as shown in Fig. 5.

Here again the players attention is directed to the striking face of theclub and the spot 10 and without deceptive or confusing disharmony ofmarkings as viewed by the player, the line D appearing to him as astraight line, parallel with an imaginary straight, horizontal l1ne fromthe club-heads effective center of momentum to the spot 10, assumingthat the club is properly balanced and that the spot 10, visibly markedor not, is properly positioned. r In this case the player can be guidedprimarily by visible markings appearing to lie entirely in a verticalplane extending directly rearward from the spot 10.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 6 and 7 a line F, straight as viewedeither from above, Fig. 6, or by the player, Fig. 7, is placed a littleway back of and parallel to the rear top line A of the face-plate, whichin turn, as viewed from directly above, Fig. 6, is parallel to ahorizontal tangent to the curved face-plate at the spot 10.

From the imaginary vertical plane extending directly rearward from thespot 10, the line F, as viewed from directly above, preferably extends alittle farther toward the toe than toward the heel of the club-head, sothat in the players view, Fig. 7, because of the over-the-hill effect,the line will appear as extending equally in the two directions fromthat plane.

The line preferably is of such contrasting color or of such width as todominate the attention of the player and thus present a concept of avertical plane intersecting at right angles another vertical plane,extending directly rearward from the spot 10, to the apparent middle ofthe line F. The effect can be further contributed to by a directlyupward-and-rearward line G.

In each ofthese embodiments the club-head is provided, at least partlyupon its top surface, with dominant visual indicia so shaped andpositioned that as viewed by the player in preliminary stance it isaccurately indicative of an imaginary vertical plane extending in theclubhead directly rearward from the preferred point of initial contactof the club-head with the ball.

Such dominant indicia is in Figs. 2 and 3 the curved line A, preferablysupplemented by the line C; in Figs. 4 and 5 the line D, preferablysupplemented by the line B; and in Figs. 6 and 7 the line F, preferablysupplemented by the line G.

Variations are possible without departure from the scope of theinvention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a golf club having a head formed with a striking face ofthree-dimensional convex shape at the forward portion thereof and a topsurface of three-dimensional convex shape, and a shaft attached to saidhead at the heel portion thereof and extending in angular relation tosaid head, the improvement comprising means defining on said head a lineextending along the intersection of the face and a first plane passingthrough the preferred point of initial contact of the face with a balland perpendicular to a second plane tangent to the face at saidpreferred point of initial contact, which planes being vertical when theclub is in initial stance position, said line extending at least fromsaid preferred point of initial contact upwardly along the striking faceand onto the adjacent portion of the top surface of the head.

2. The invention as set forth in claim 1 wherein means are provideddefining an arcuate line on the top surface of said head which line isspaced rearwardly from and is concave in a direction rearwardly from thejuncture of the striking face and the top surface of the head and issubstantially concentric with a line of intersection with the strikingface of a plane which passes through said preferred point of initialcontact and is horizontal when the club is in initial stance position.

3. The invention as set forth in claim 1 wherein means are provideddefining an arcuate line on the top surface of said head which line isspaced rearwardly from and is concave in a direction rearwardly from thejuncture ofthe striking face and the top surface of the head and issubstantially concentric with a line of intersection with the strikingface of a plane which passes through said preferred point of initialcontact and is horizontal when the club is in initial stance positionand wherein said first line intersects and terminates at said secondline.

4. The invention as set forth in claim 1 wherein said means for definingsaid line includes a face plate contrasting in color with the remainderof the club head, is inset and flush with the striking face of the headand having an exposed top portion flush with the top surface of the headadjacent the juncture of the striking face and the top surface of thehead, said exposed top portion having an arcuate rear edge spaced fromand concave in a direction rearwardly from the juncture of the strikingface and the top surface of the head and substantially concentric with aline of intersection with the striking face of a plane which passesthrough the preferred point of initial contact and is horizontal whenthe club is in initial stance position.

5. The invention as set forth in claim 1 wherein means are provideddefining an arcuate line on the top surface of said head which extendsrearwardly from said firstnamed line and is arcuate and convex in aheelward direction, the convexity being such that when said second lineis viewed by a player in preliminary stance position it appears as astraight line.

6. The invention as set forth in claim 1 wherein means are provideddefining a line on the top surface of said headspaced rearwardly fromthe juncture of said striking face and said top surface and lying in aplane which is parallel to said tangent plane and is vertical when theclub is in initial stance position, said second line being of suchlength and so positioned that its center is toeward of said firstvertical plane a distance sufficient that whenviewed 'by a player ininitial stance position it appears to extend equal distances toeward andheelward from the rearward end of said first line.

7. In a golf club having a head formed with a striking face ofthree-dimensional curved shape at the forward portion thereof and a topsurface of three-dimensional convex shape, a face plate inset in andflush with the striking face and having a portion exposed on and flushwith the top surface of the head, and a shaft attached to said head atthe heel portion thereof, the improvement wherein said face plate is ofa color contrasting with the color of the head and has an arcuate rearedge exposed on the top surface of the head defining a line which isspaced rearwardly from and concave in a rearward direction and issubstantially concentric with the line of intersection with the strikingface of a plane which passes through said preferred point of initialcontact and is horizontal when the club is in initial stance positionand wherein said face insert defines a second line extending from themidpoint of said arcuate line at least to said preferred point ofinitial contact and lying in a plane which passes through said point ofinitial contact and perpendicularly to a plane tangent to the face atsaid preferred point of initial contact, which planes are vertical whenthe club is in initial stance position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,546,612 Barnes July 21, 1925 2,003,951 Pepin June 4, 1935 2,023,885Hinckley Dec. 10, 1935 2,346,617 Schaffer- Apr. 11, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS324,620 Great Britain Jan. 28, 1930

